2022 is the 7th year we have ran our Family-Friendly Spaces (FFS) program, despite the challenges of the past two years heavily impacted by COVID-19, this year, we are proud to have 17 factories participating in Family-Friendly Spaces welcoming nearly 800 children.
2022 is the 7th year we have ran our Family-Friendly Spaces (FFS) program, despite the challenges of the past two years heavily impacted by COVID-19, this year, we are proud to have 17 factories participating in Family-Friendly Spaces welcoming nearly 800 children. Our Family-Friendly Spaces program provides secure and well-equipped spaces at factories for children to learn and play while their parents work. The program promotes child-friendly employment practices, supports the United Nations SDGs: 3, 4, 5, 10 & 17 and allows parents to work free from childcare burden. The Family-Friendly Spaces program enables factories to bring positive impacts to working parents and their children, while at the same time, creating measurable business benefits for the factories. We will regularly update this page and our social media, Twitter & Linkedin pages, with images, videos & stories from the spaces.Weekly Updates:Week 4: Closing Ceremony for the 2022 Family-Friendly Spaces Program This year’s Family-Friendly Spaces Closing Ceremony was held on 19 August, giving the participating children and factory representatives an opportunity to celebrate and share some memorable moments from this summer’s program.The hybrid Ceremony comprised of an in-person section in Dongguan, China for in-person attendees and an online section open to all attendees. Around 160 participants, including representatives from factories and brands, alongside a variety of invited attendees, joined the Ceremony contributing to the warm and celebratory atmosphere.The varied ceremony included hearing the experiences of 3 children who have participated in the program over several years, allowing attendees to hear how the program has impacted their development year-on-year. The ceremony also included the highly anticipated prize-giving ceremony for the environmental competition held earlier in the summer program and attendees were treated to a Kungfu performance and an eco-friendly fashion show put together by the participating children.There were prizes awarded to the best individual environment competition submission, 1st runner-up, 2nd runner-up and one awarded to the best team. The Judges’ comments (abstracts) in the table below show how the competition winner’s submissions positively impact the environment.Environmental Ambassadors Prize Award Winners:Photos of the Awarded Environmental Arts & Crafts:Congratulations again to all the competition winners! And thank you to all the participating factories for their excellent support and commitment to creating a memorable summer for the workers and their children!Lastly, we would like to express our gratitude to Dongguan Golden Cup Printing Co., Ltd. for providing the ceremony venue and the company general manager Mr. Albert Yeung for providing different kinds of assistance, including event planning and on-site event supports.Week 3: Unforgettable Experiences & Parent-Child ActivitiesFollowing the successful Environmental Competition, this week, many participating factories arranged for a variety of parent-child activities and experiences. Many children took part in a workshop which helped them understand their emotions and those of others. They played a variety of different games including one where they placed a sticky note with an emotion on it on their forehead and walked around expressing this emotion to their peers. There was also a coloring-in activity, the children colored-in a heart using different colors to represent their various emotions, these activities help improve children's self-awareness, ability to express themselves and their understanding of others.Many children were also involved in a sneaker-painting activity. This activity helped spark the children’s creativity and individuality allowing them to come up with their own creation and design a completely unique pair of sneakers! This week's parent-child activities included river-fishing, tug-of-war, a festive feast in a holiday village. These activities not only allow parents to spend more time with their children, but also help improve their family bond, allowing them to work together to tackle challenges and explore new and exciting surroundings as a family. All of these activities and experiences have created wonderful summer memories for both the factory workers and their children, helping them develop a strong family bond and improving their well-being.Week 2: Environmental Week & CompetitionFollowing the Opening Ceremony of the Family-Friendly Spaces Program, plenty of participating factories were busy preparing for the upcoming “Environmental Competition”, the first year we have introduced a competition of this kind .In response to the Environmental Assessment (EA) program launched in 2022, IETP designed this Environmental Competition for the children of factory workers. Through participating in the competition, we aim to help the children better understand the relationship between human beings and the environment. We encourage positive habits which protect the environment like completing green activities and incorporating them into their daily routines. Additionally, the Competition aimed to help the children learn how they can optimize their resources and turn household waste into useful items through creative thinking and using their imagination.The photos below capture some of the wonderful moments of the children taking part in the Environmental Competition. We have featured some of their creative, eco-friendly artwork, including a recycling bin, handmade painting, and toy rocket. When making these eco-friendly pieces of art, the children not only improved their environmental awareness but also developed better cognitive skills like creative thinking and sustained concentration.All competition winners will be awarded fantastic prizes and all participants will receive a participation prize upon the completion of the Environmental Competition. As the Competition is ongoing across the various Family-Friendly Spaces, we will regularly update this page with more information and photos, as well as announce the list of competition winners. Stay tuned!Week 1: Opening Ceremony of the Family-Friendly Spaces ProgramMany participating factories held an opening ceremony for this year’s Family-Friendly Spaces Program in July. The event was attended by both children and parents to enhance their understanding of the Family-Friendly Spaces Program. During the ceremony, the teachers gave an overview of the summer program to give the children an idea of what’s in store for them this summer and, to top it all, at the end of the ceremony every child received a gift, specially prepared by this year's gift sponsors. One of the participating factories prepared an interactive presentation for the Opening Ceremony. The presentation included a heartfelt video recorded by the teachers of the children introducing themselves. They explained how encouraging children to speak in front of the camera and observing the other children partaking in the activity helps the children to improve their communication skills, self-confidence, and the shared experience helps the children bond and learn more about each other before the Family-Friendly Spaces Program begins.IETP is sincerely grateful to all our gift sponsors, including Crayola, Disney, DK, Hallmark, Hape, LEGO®, Mattel, and Spin Master, for their committed support and sponsorship of the Family-Friendly Spaces program.The magnificent sponsored gifts include books, puzzles, Rubik's Cubes, colouring pens, and toys. The gifts help the children experience the fun of educational entertainment as well as helping them to learn important skills such as sharing, making new friends and communicating with peers.Planning & Preparation Week: Teacher TrainingEvery year, before the FFS program begins IETP holds a 2-day teacher training course to strengthen the teaching skills of the FFS program teachers and help the factories tailor their FFS program to meet the needs of the participating children. This year, the course was held in July and attended by teachers and representatives from 17 different factories.This year’s teacher training course provided the teachers with many widely recognized teaching methods including mind mapping, reading aloud and various strategies to help children identify and manage their emotions, all mixed in with different interactive games. The training course not only enhances the teacher's understanding of children's emotions so they can comprehend and teach the children more effectively, but also helps them grasp new practical teaching methods which are proven to improve children’s participation levels in the classroom.After completing the training course, one teacher said, “Thanks to the inclusive learning atmosphere and comprehensiveness of the teacher training, my fellow teachers and I were hugely positive, dedicated to learning and more willing to ask questions when we were unsure. After receiving the comprehensive, practical, and clear training provided by the instructor, I have enriched my teaching capabilities and will utilize the skills I have learnt when teaching the Family Friendly Spaces program this year.”IETP would like to express our gratitude towards LEGO® and Spin Master for their generous support and sponsorship of the teacher training course.Before the spaces open:Before opening our spaces, we take the below steps to build-up the factories' knowledge on how to run the Family-Friendly Spaces program and transform the spaces into safe, colorful, and fun activity areas for children to play, learn and socialise in.
